This is John Wybarne and his tiny wives who between them birthed 11 children. But forget about that, he’s the important one with his big sword
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John Wybarne
1370
Church of St Mary the Virgin, Ticehurst, Sussex, England
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Monumental brass to John Wyborne and his wives Cecily and Agnes. From: Fairbank, F.R. (1901). "Rubbings of medieval engraved brasses". The Connoisseur 1 (Sept/Dec): 162-168.
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St Mary: appropriated brass to John Wybarne, d.1490 eng. c.1380 & wives Edith (stolen 1980) & Agnes, eng. c.1510
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brass of the month is from Ticehurst, Sussex. The inscription records that it commemorates John Wybarne, who died in 1490, and his two wives, Edith and Agnes. John Wybarne was the son of John Wybarne of Hawkwell, in Pembury, Kent, by his wife Agnes, daughter and heir of John Sidley, and the brother of Nicholas Wybarne, a knight hospitaler of Rhodes, He was possessed of considerable property in Ticehurst parish, and was a great benefactor to the church. He married first Edith Hide, by whom he had 9 children, and secondly a widow, Agnes Harris, who survived him and by whom he had 2 children.
This brass is very odd composition, with two figures of ladies 18 ins. in height in the fashionable dress of the early sixteenth century, either side of a 34ins high figure of a man in armour of c.1370. At the top of the slab in which the brasses are laid is the indent of a shield.
The will of Agnes Wybarne, who survived her husband, directs her executors 'to bye a convenient stone to laye upon my husband John Wybarne's grave, and myne, in the chancel of Tysehurst'. It appears that Agnes's executors took her instructions literally, for they made use of an earlier graveslab. The tombmakers perhaps removed the shield as the arms would have been inappropriate, kept the figure of the knight and added a new inscription and two figures of ladies to represent her and Edith. As the slab is only 27 ins wide, they would have been unable to have fitted in two more figures the same height as the knight, so had to compromise by using diminutive figures. Thus Agnes's executors would have got a showy monument at a bargain price.
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Composite of four brass rubbings, including an effigy of a man in armour, ca. 1370, two smaller effigies of two ladies,and an inscription for John Wybarne (d.1490) and his two wives, Edith and Agnes (d.1503), Ticehurst Church, Sussex.
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Brass of John Wybarne, St Mary's church, Ticehurst
Shown with his 2 wives (although one was stolen some time ago) he died in 1490.
Son of John Wybarne and Agnes of Hawkwell, Pembury, Kent, he married first Edith Hide and subsequently Agnes Harris. They had 9 children. He was a great benefactor to the church.
His armour dates from about 1370. As well as one wife, a shield is missing. This could have been from a previous use of the second-hand slab. The wives are small to fit them into the narrow 27 inch slab. The brass dates from some time after John died, circa 1505, as his second wife survived him.